Latest Big Bill Broonzy

Bob Riesman's heralded 2011 Big Bill Broonzy biography, I Feel So Good: The Life And Times of Big Bill Broonzy (University of Chicago Press), is coming to paperback October 15. I Feel So Good documents the life of the late Chicago blues legend by focusing on his early trips across the Atlantic in the 1950s. Broonzy, who was born in Arkansas, was one of the first Southern bluesmen to make waves in 1930s Chicago, blazing a trail for others who followed in his footsteps, including Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.

American folklorist Alan Lomax spent almost his entire life documenting and recording folk music from around the world. Now thousands of the music and interviews he recorded are available for free online in streaming form.